Common Foreign and Security Policy
The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union (EU) for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU's external relations, which domains include mainly Trade and Commercial Policy and other areas such as funding to third countries, etc. Decisions require unanimity among member states in the Council of the European Union, but once agreed, certain aspects can be further decided by qualified majority voting. Foreign policy is chaired and represented by the EU's High Representative, currently Josep Borrell.
This article is about the workings of European Union foreign policy. For the relations between the European Union and third countries, see Foreign relations of the European Union.The CFSP sees the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) as responsible for the territorial defence of Europe and reconciliation. However, since 1999, the European Union is responsible for implementing missions such as peacekeeping and policing of treaties. A phrase often used to describe the relationship between the EU forces and NATO is "separable, but not separate".[1] The same forces and capabilities form the basis of both EU and NATO efforts, but portions can be allocated to the European Union if necessary.
According to Article J.1 of title V of the Maastricht Treaty, the European Union defines and implements a common foreign and security policy that covers all areas of foreign and security policy, the objectives of which are to:
Elements[edit]
Types of policy[edit]
The European Council defines the principles and general guidelines for the CFSP as well as common strategies to be implemented by the EU. On the basis of those guidelines the Council of Ministers adopts joint actions or common positions. Joint actions address specific situations where operation action by the EU is considered necessary and lay down the objectives, scope and means to be made available to the EU. They commit the member states. Common positions on the other hand, define the approach that the EU takes on a certain matter of geographical or thematic nature, and define in the abstract the general guidelines to which the national policies of Member states must conform.
High Representative[edit]
The High Representative, in conjunction with the President of the European Council, speaks on behalf of the EU in agreed foreign policy matters and can have the task of articulating ambiguous policy positions created by disagreements among member states. The Common Foreign and Security Policy requires unanimity among the 27 member states on the appropriate policy to follow on any particular policy. Disagreements in CFSP, such as those that occurred over the war in Iraq,[6] are not uncommon.
The High Representative also coordinates the work of the European Union Special Representatives. With the Lisbon Treaty taking effect, the position became distinct from the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers. The High Representative serves as the head of the European Defence Agency and exercises the same functions over the Common Security and Defence Policy as the CFSP. On 1 December 2009, Catherine Ashton took over Javier Solana's post as the High Representative, who has held the post since 1999. On 30 August 2014 it was announced by Herman Van Rompuy that Federica Mogherini would be the new High Representative, effective on 1 November 2014.
Bodies[edit]
There are a number of bodies set up within the context of the CFSP. Within the council, there is the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) configuration, essentially a meeting of foreign ministers and the Political and Security Committee or PSC, which monitors the international situation in the areas covered by the CFSP and contributes by delivering opinions to the Council of Ministers, either at its request or its own initiative, and also monitors the implementation of agreed policies.[7]
The European Defence Agency (EDA) encourages increase in defence capabilities, military research and the establishment of a European internal market for military technology. Two bodies carried over from the Western European Union (see defence, below) are the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) and the European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC).
The EUISS is the European Union's in-house think tank. Its mission is to find a common security culture for the EU, to help develop and project the CFSP, and to enrich Europe's strategic debate.
The EUSC is providing analysis of satellite imagery and collateral data.[8]
Stopping humanitarian atrocities[edit]
EU foreign policy is committed to the protection of human rights. Research suggests that rhetoric along these lines from EU decision-makers is consistent with actual EU foreign policy activity.[13][14] Military and economic interventions by the EU are consistently more likely in countries where violence explicitly targets civilians.[13] Likewise, human rights sanctions are consistently applied against states responsible for human rights violations.[14] Geostrategic concerns also influence EU action, as the EU has been "most attentive to human rights violations in non-EU European states, followed by countries in sub-Saharan Africa, while it has been least active in Asia and the Americas".[13]
European Peace Facility[edit]
The European Peace Facility (EPF) is an off-budget EU financing instrument set up in March 2021, aiming towards the delivering of military aid to partner countries and funding the deployment of EU military missions abroad under the CFSP.